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Presidential candidate Rick Santorum defended his stance on gay marriage after an exchange with CNN’s Piers Morgan, who called the former Pennsylvania senator’s Catholic beliefs "bigotry."

"Do you think homosexuality is a sin?" asked Morgan in an interview, which aired last week.

According to Santorum, that was not his line of work but rather a decision for a member of clergy.

However, after prodding from Morgan he stated, "The Catholic Church teaches that homosexuality is a sin. I’m Catholic and subscribe to the Catholic Church’s teaching."

Santorum added, "But that's not relevant from the standpoint of how I view these issues from a public policy view."

The GOP presidential candidate said from a public viewpoint he found many things "morally wrong" that didn’t "necessarily rise to the level" that warranted government involvement in "regulating that activity."

Piers Morgan pointed out that he was also a Catholic, adding that the times have changed.

"We’re in a different era. We're in a modern world," Morgan stated.

Santorum countered that the "truth" does not change, claiming that right and wrong remains the same regardless of the era.

"There are some truths that are in fact eternal and based on nature and nature's law. And that's what the church teaches and that's what the Bible teaches and that's what reason dictates," he said.

Morgan insisted that such a view of gay marriage bordered on "bigotry."

Sanotorum, disagreed, saying, "Just because we disagree on public policy, which is what the debate has been about …marriage, it doesn't mean that it's bigotry."

According to Santorum, the church’s standing is based on more than 2,000 years of history and trying to "redefine something has been seen as wrong from the standpoint of the church and saying a church is bigoted because it holds that opinion that is biblically based is in itself an act of bigotry."

Santorum added, "If you look at it from all of those perspectives, I think it's a legitimate point of view. I certainly respect people who disagree with it. But I don't call them bigoted because they disagree with me."

Santorum, who previously labeled his campaign "the little engine that could" and called his GOP opponents "shiny engines" that come and go, has been struggling to break into the top rankings of the Republican race.